Some welding processes consume wire as they are carried out. Wire feeders provide wire to a welding gun, which feeds the wire to the arc. Power can be applied to the wire at the feeder, or at the gun. Wire feeders typically have a replaceable spool of wire from which the wire being fed to the arc is unwound. One or more drive rolls grip the wire and pull the wire from the spool, pushing it through a conduit to the gun and the arc. Some wire feeders feed the wire at a constant feed rate, but other wire feeders can vary the feed rate in response to the arc length and voltage.
Wire feeders can be made with different motors, and each motor type can have a unique hole mounting pattern. This makes manufacturing wire feeders more costly and complex, because the base assembly on which the motor is to be mounted must be different for each type of motor. Thus, a wire feeder that is modular, i.e, a wire feeder with a base assembly to which any of a group of different motors can be mounted, is desirable.
Wire feeders that have power applied to the wire at the feeder need to have electrical insulation or isolation between the wire drive and the electric motor. This complicates the attachment of the motor to the base, because screws and other parts are typically metal, and thus conductive. A wire feeder that provides electrical isolation or insulation between the motor and the drive assembly, yet is not complicated, is desired.